acute coronary syndrome presentation: rural emergency...

John M Gallagher, MDEMS System Medical Director

Wichita/Sedgwick County Kansas

March 15th, 2016

Rural Emergency

Department and

EMS Considerations

Acute Coronary Syndrome Presentation:

• Conflicts:

– None but looking

• Disclosures:

– Vice-Chair of the NAEMSP

Standards and Practice

Committee

– Medical Advisory Committee

of the Kansas Board of EMS

Objectives

• “Discuss the barriers of STEMI care and

the decisions that need to be made in a

rural and EMS environment.”

This is NOT a

review of the

science

My REAL Objectives

• The participants will:

– Become a bit uncomfortable

– Disagree and be a little pissed off

– Question their own practices and policies

– Worry that they might be doing the wrong

thing

– Get defensive

– And in the end, think critically about our work

“Close enough. Let’s go.”

Walk with me…

The Issues

• 911 activation

• Who to send

• On scene/enroute tasks for EMS

• Destination/Intercepts

• 12 Lead Transmission/Interpretation

• Referring Hospital tasks

• Transfer arrangements

• Receiving Center Variability

Just to get us started…

• You’re in the middle of a case while

working in a small referral center with one

doc and two nurses about 45 minutes from

a receiving center.

I’ll catch you up to speed…

What are our objectives?

What are our objectives?

• Make Diagnosis

• Start treatment

• Get to definitive care

• Safety

• Efficiency

• Accuracy

Get to Definitive Care


• What are your thoughts?

• What are the options?

• What threatens to screw up the plan?

• What info do we need to pick a plan?

Who ya gonna call?

50 min

29 min

18 min

13 min

Lets do another one

• List the tasks that the ED team has to do

in order to get this patient started and out

the door

ED Tasks

• The Doc: • Nurse/Tech/Staff:

(Get out a sheet of paper…and

borrow a pencil from one of the

prepared kids)

ED Tasks

• The Doc:

– Make Dx

– Communicate to team

– Tell patient (family)

– Write orders

– Destination decision

– Transport decision

– Doc to Doc call

– Transfer certification

– Transport PCS

– Write chart

• Nurse/Tech/Staff:

– Register patient

– Triage

– Perform EKG

– Start IV

– Give meds

– Transfer packet

– Package patient

– Hand off to EMS

– Nurse to nurse call

So we’re starting to get it…

• Lets try a hard one

Lights and Siren?

Lights and Siren?

50 min

29 min

25.5 min

47 min

Keep ‘em comming

Receiving Center

Variability

Keep ‘em comming


What do we agree on?

• ASA is good

• Cath is good

What do we disagree on?

• Heparin

– [Bolus and drip] or [just drip]

– [Bolus with max dose] or [full weight based dose]

• Ticagrelor, Plavix, or neither

• Morphine for pain

– Morphine found to increase mortality in NSTEMI

(CRUSADE), not studied in STEMI

• Beta-Blocker

– Oral, IV, none

– What about inferior distribution?

Variability between

facilities (and even

individual docs) prevents

these issues from being

addressed in protocols.

What are we starting to question?

• Time to cath lab

Results:“Despite improvements in

door-to-balloon times,

there was no significant

overall change in unadjusted

in-hospital mortality or in risk-

adjusted in-hospital mortality,

nor was a significantdifference observed in unadjusted 30-day mortality.”

(numerics omitted)

And my favorite…

What do we agree on that doesn’t

make any sense?

The beginning of time

I’ll explain…

The Issues

• 911 activation

• Who to send

• On scene/enroute tasks for EMS

• Destination/Intercepts

• 12 Lead Transmission/Interpretation

• Referring Hospital tasks

• Transfer arrangements


911 Activation / Who to Send

• How many ambulances are in your

system?

• What’s the time frame between first

responders and the ambulance?

• What are the practice levels of your

various provider levels?


• 17 y/o female with no history and no drug

use calls 911 for chest pain for one hour.

– What is likely wrong with this girl?

– What would your system send?

Emergency Medical Dispatch


• What can your First Responders do for

this girl?

• What can your BLS providers do?

• ALS providers?

Is your crew going to go screaming down

the road with lights and siren running?

Are they going to give this girl an aspirin?


• What can your First Responders do for

this guy?

• What can your BLS providers do?

• ALS providers?

This thought

process answers

the Intercept

question too!


• If this is how you feel, raise your hand.

On scene / Enroute Tasks

• One more time…..What can EMS do?

On scene / Enroute Tasks

• ASA

• EKG

• IV start

• Nitro

• Morphine

• Heparin/Plavix

• Pressors

• Transport

Last one!!!

EKG Interpretation/Cath Lab Activation


• EKG Interpretation

– Paramedic interpretation

– Computer interpretation

– Transmission (Physician interpretation)

• What does your system do?

(Mine does the first two)


• What’s good enough for cath lab

activation?

(Why?)

Bringing it all together…

• As we build STEMI systems, there are a

whole mess of cause and effect

relationships we need to consider.

Cause and Effect 1/8

they’re gonna get mad at you and say that

you’re an idiot

If you bring up these issues with people

who think they are doing everything right


we will not have resources available for

the next patient who needs us

If we keep sending all levels of EMS to

every call


we will be treating STEMIs in different

clinical timeframes and will cloud our

data

If we focus only on

First Medical Contact


sub standard care will occur in areas with

unusual geography or unique

circumstances

If we write overarching protocols and

mandate that everyone follows them


patients will receive different care

depending on destination and the

referring hospital staff will have to delay

patient care to talk with accepting staff

If receiving hospitals continue to demand

different treatments than each other


we need to be prepared that traditional

EMS tasks might not get completed prior

to arrival at the hospital

If we ask our EMS crews to “load and go”

when they detect a STEMI


our actions will show others that we don’t

believe in a “minutes count” mentality

If we don’t allow field activation of the

cath lab (and bypass of the ED)


we will improve outcomes and

SAVE LIVES!!!

…and last but not least…

If we continue to come together

and work on the hard issues

Questions?

John M Gallagher, MD

Emergency and EMS Physician

[email protected]

acute coronary syndrome presentation: rural emergency...

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